System for estimating planar drop sizes

ABSTRACT

A system includes a method and apparatus suitable for measuring planar drop sizes in a liquid spray. Measurement may involve illuminating the spray with multiple lasers and measuring the scattered intensities at several view angles using linear arrays. The system may use inverse calculation of the measured scattered intensity to estimate the local drop sizes across the entire plane in a spray. The system includes radiation detectors containing sensing elements, a lens systems, and analog to digital conversion board to convert scattered intensities to drop sizes. In addition, the system may include choppers including at least two unique filters. The filters may be selectively placed in a path between the spray and the sensing elements. By selectively placing a single array may measure both a scattered intensity and an extinction of laser light emitted from the spray.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 15/873,575,filed Jan. 17, 2018, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Measuring drop sizes in sprays consisting of liquid or solid particlesis a useful endeavor in a variety of capacities. The techniques areuseful in estimating drop sizes in sprays that are used in a variety ofapplications such as consumer goods, fuel injectors, coatingapplicators, spray dryers, and pharmaceutical nebulizers.

SUMMARY

The present system provides a method and apparatus for estimating planardrop sizes using scattering tomography.

According to a first aspect of the system a method of measuringscattering signatures from a laser sheet is disclosed. The methodcomprises forming a laser sheet using optical lenses, illuminating thespray with the laser sheet, and imaging the scattered intensity at adifferent angle from the incident laser sheet.

According to a second aspect of the system, the system may use threeindependent optical portions, a laser illuminator, a laser extinctionimager, and a laser scattering imager. The laser illuminator may includea fan laser collimated using a lens to form a collimated sheet having apreselected width. The laser source provides a beam of uniform density.A chopper including a filter is placed in the path of the laser beam sothat the scattered image and the extinction measurement can be measuredwith the same detector array.

A third aspect of the system may be that the use of a three dimension(3D) high frequency linear detector arrays enables measurements alongthe axis of the spray as well that are not achieved with two dimensional(2-D) arrays.

An interesting technical aspect of the system is that the drop sizes maybe obtained over the entire measurement plane. Any non-uniformities inthe spray domain may be obtained from the measured intensities.

Another interesting technical aspect of the system is that the multiplescattering effects may be automatically accounted for in thedeconvolution algorithm. Therefore, the system works very well in densesprays.

Other aspects and advantages of this system will be better understoodfrom the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of an example homogenous path.

FIG. 2 is an example of a schematic representation of a planar dropsizing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an example of a schematic representation of a domain overwhich the drop sizes are measured.

FIG. 4 is a photograph of an example of the planar drop sizing apparatusshowing a plurality of lasers and detector arrays of the planar dropsizing apparatus.

FIG. 5 . is a graph showing the scattering intensities measured by thesix arrays of the planar drop sizing apparatus.

FIG. 6 . Is a plot showing an example of SMD distribution usingsynthetic data.

FIG. 7 . is a plot showing an experimental evaluation of an SMDdistribution over a droplet distribution.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the planar drop sizing apparatusconnected to an external device to display the data collected by theplanar drop sizing apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present system generally relates to measuring the drop sizes insprays consisting of liquid or solid particles. The techniques utilizedin this system are useful in estimating drop sizes in sprays that areused in a variety of applications such as consumer goods, fuelinjectors, coating applicators, spray dryers, and pharmaceuticalnebulizers.

The transfer of mass, momentum, energy, and species at any location in aspray is directly proportional to the surface area of drops at thatlocation. One of the methods of estimating the surface areas is todirectly measure the drop sizes in the spray. Drop size is one of keyparameters in applications such as spray drying and coating of surfaces.For this reason, development or quality control process require quickand reliable tools to determine the drop sizes in the pharmaceutical andpaint industry. Laser based instruments has been developed andcommercialized, to measure drop sizes since they offer non-intrusive andspatially resolved measurements, compared to the physical probing.

The Phase Doppler Anemometer (PDA) or interferometer can measuresimultaneously the drop sizes and velocities at a single point in aspray. The measurement provides statistics of drop size and velocitydistribution in sprays, and is widely used for research and developmentpurposes. Laser diffraction techniques have been used extensively toprovide line of sight measurements of drop size distribution in sprays.The diffraction instruments use Mie theory to estimate the drop sizedistribution from the scattering intensity measurements at one viewangle. A single point drop size measurement is generally not sufficientfor characterization of nozzle because drop size varies significantlyover the spray domain. Therefore, performing 2-D (for PDA) or 1-Dscanning (for diffraction based instruments) is necessary tocharacterize the spray fully. However, spatial scanning with theinterferometry or the diffraction technique is time consuming, andcollating the data is labor intensive. Therefore, such methods are notused widely for quality audit of nozzles and injectors.

The present system is directed to measuring the planar drop sizes in aspray. The system measures the intensities of scattered radiation from aliquid spray at six angles using high speed linear arrays. Thesemeasured intensities are used to obtain the drop sizes.

Measurement techniques to estimate the planar drop sizes in a spray maybe performed without the need for scanning. For example, a LIF/Mie ratiotechnique may be used to obtain planar drop size distribution. TheLIF/Mie technique may use the ratio of laser induced fluorescence andscattered light to estimate drop sizes. The LIF/Mie technique is basedon the fact that fluorescence emission is proportional to the volume ofthe droplet, while the scattering intensity is proportional to thesurface area of the drops. Therefore, the ratio of fluorescence andscattered intensity is related to the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) of thedrops since SMD is defined as:

$\begin{matrix}{{SMD} = \frac{\int{D^{3}\mspace{14mu}{P(D)}{dD}}}{\int{D^{2}\mspace{14mu}{P(D)}{dD}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$where P(d) is probability density function for the number density ofdrops. However, fluorescence emission from liquids in their naturalstate is very weak. Therefore, the liquid is doped with a fluorescencedye such as rhodamine, fluorescein, orN,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine, also known as TMPD, toincrease the accuracy of the measurements. Adding dye to the liquid maynot be desirable in the industrial testing processes. For example,rhodamine is toxic and corrosive agent which cannot be used inproduction environments. Another important issue with using the LIF/Mietechnique is multiple scattering effects when the spray is dense.Multiple scattering causes redistribution in spatial intensity forscattering intensity as well as fluorescence emission. In addition, thescattering pattern for laser light and fluorescence emission iscompletely different because location of the light source(s) is notsame. Thus, the ratio of fluorescence and scattering intensity would bebiased in the SMD measurement. It may be argued that LIF/Mie techniqueshows better accuracy than PDA measurements in dense sprays, however, adetailed analysis of multiple scattering effects in these sprays is notavailable.

Interferometric laser imaging (ILIDS), may be used to exploit theinterference between light reflected from, and refracted through,individual drops in the forward-scatter region to estimate planar dropsizes. The ILIDS technique may be used for estimating drop sizes only inspatially sparse spray and sprays with large drop sizes. A planar dropsize technique that uses polarization ratio of the scattered intensitymay also be used. This planar drop size technique is based on the factthat the scattered intensity roughly increases with the square of thedrop diameter D, if the incident light is polarized perpendicular to thescattering plane, while it roughly increases with droplet diameter Dwhen the incident beam is polarized parallel to the scattering plane.The planar drop size technique may be used to estimate drop sizes inautomotive injectors, however, this technique also suffers from multiplescattering effect for dense sprays.

Extinction tomography for spray may be used to estimate spatialdistribution of the surface area of the drops in a plane. An example ofa basic instrument to estimate spatial distribution is described in U.S.Pat. No. 6,184,989. Planar extinction measurement on the spray fielddoes not suffer from the multiple scattering effect, thus, the dropsurface area measurement through extinction tomography is free from themultiple scattering effect even when the spray is optically dense. Thepresent system seeks to estimate the local scattering intensity so as toobtain drop size information over an entire plane.

Consider a homogeneous path 100 in a scattering turbulent spray 102 asshown in FIG. 1 . For a line of sight scattering measurement of thehomogeneous path 100, the rate of change of intensity along the line isgiven by:

$\begin{matrix}{\frac{{dI}_{\lambda}}{ds} = {{{{- \left( {\alpha_{\lambda} + \sigma_{\lambda}} \right)} \cdot I_{\lambda}} + S_{\lambda}} = {{{- \beta_{\lambda}} \cdot I_{\lambda}} + S_{\lambda}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

where I_(□) is the local intensity which varies as a function ofdistance s, β_(λ) is the extinction coefficient (comprised of thescattering coefficient σ_(λ), and the absorption coefficient α_(λ)), andS_(λ) is the source term for intensity. The total change Δ in intensity(I) occurs over the homogeneous path 100. If, the source term isconstant for the homogeneous path, the formal solution is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{I_{\lambda}^{2} = {{\frac{S_{\lambda}}{\beta_{\lambda}}*\left( {1 - {\exp\left( {{- \beta_{\lambda}} \cdot \Delta} \right)}} \right)} + {I_{\lambda}^{1} \cdot {\exp\left( {- {\beta_{\lambda}.\Delta}} \right)}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$For scattering tomography, the source term can be represented as:S=σ _(λ)∫_(Ω) ·I _(s)·Φ(θ)dΩ  (3)where I_(s) is incident intensity from the laser light, and Φ(θ) isscattering phase function toward a given scattering angle, θ. For waterdrops, absorption is negligible at the laser wavelength of 632 nm.Alternatively or in addition, the wavelengths of the laser light may beanywhere from the range of infrared to x-rays, including infrared,visible, ultraviolet, or x-ray wavelengths. Therefore, the scatteringcoefficient is effectively equal to the extinction coefficient, and theresulting radiative transfer equation (RTE) is:I _(λ) ² =I _(s)·∫_(Ω)·Φ(θ)dΩ·(1−exp(−β_(λ)·Δ))+I _(λ)¹·exp(−β_(λ)·Δ)  (4)

FIG. 2 shows an example geometry of a system 200 for scattering andextinction tomography. As shown in FIG. 2 , a laser source 203 directslaser light 215 toward a lens 205. The laser light 215 passing throughthe lens 205 may form a laser sheet 202. The laser sheet 205 may contacta liquid spray 207 (shown as a cross-section in FIG. 2 ). The lasersheet 205 contacting the spray 207 may cause an amount of scatteredlight 209 to emit from the spray 207. The scattered light may passthrough a filter 211. After passing through the filter 211, thescattered light 209 may be sensed by an array 206. The array 206 maysense or measure a scattered intensity of the scattered light 209.Alternatively or in addition, the array 206 may sense or measure anextinction of the scattered light 209.

The laser source 203 may be any device capable of producing a directedbeam of laser light 215. In some examples, a plurality of laser sources203 may be present to each produce a respective beam of the laser light215, resulting in a plurality of beams of laser lights 215 produced.Alternatively, or in addition, the beam of laser light 215 produced byone or more laser sources 203 may be divided to generate multiple beamsof laser light 215. The laser source 203 may include the lens 205 toallow the laser light 215 produced by the laser source 203 to beexpanded into the laser sheet 202. The laser source 203 may producelaser light 215 having any wavelength from infrared wavelengths throughx-ray wavelengths, inclusively. Accordingly, the laser light 215, forexample, include an infrared wavelength of up to and including 1000 nm.The laser light 215 may, for example, include an x-ray having an amountof energy, such as from 10 to 50 KeV where extinction is measurable.Alternatively or in addition, the laser light 215 may, for example,include an x-ray wavelength associated with the amount of energydescribed in the previous sentence.

The lens 205 may be any optical elements capable of creating the lasersheet 202 from the laser light 215 from the laser source 203. The lens205 may be formed in such a way to provide suitable refraction of thelaser light 215 from the laser source 203 to form the laser sheet 202.In some examples, the lens may include glass. The lens 205 may provide ameans for producing a “top hat” profile, which may also be described asa uniform density profile for the laser sheet 202. A uniform densityprofile may be a laser sheet that has the same intensity along a lengthof the sheet. The uniform density profile of the laser sheet 202 avoidscomplications in measurements that would arise if the spray 207 wereexposed to a laser sheet of non-uniform density.

The laser sheet 202 may be a resulting beam of laser light with a wider(or larger area) than the area of the laser light 215 initially producedfrom the laser source 203. The laser sheet 202 may have a uniformdensity. At least because the laser sheet has uniform density, each ofthe droplets in the spray 207 will be exposed to substantially equalamounts of light, resulting in more accurate measurements. Substantiallyequal amount of light may be a configuration in which the individualelements of the pixel array provide roughly the same voltages. For aGaussian beam, the light intensity falls off very sharply away from thecenter portion of the sheet and therefore, the voltage levels at theedges of the sheet are much lower than that at the center of the lasersheet. Each of the beams of laser light 215 may pass through the lens205 each resulting in a respective laser sheet 202.

The scattered light 209 may be a beam or a sheet of light that emitsfrom the spray 207 as a result of the laser sheet 202 passing throughthe spray 207. The scattered light 209 may be directed at, or receivedby, the array 206. As a result of the laser sheet 202 passing throughthe spray 207, the scattered light 209 may be emitted at an angle α to alaser sheet axis 204. The angle α may be any angle measurement that thescattered light 209 may be emitted from the spray 207. For example, thescattered light 209 may be emitted at a 0° angle. Alternatively or inaddition, for example, the scattered light 209 may be emitted at a 30°angle. The measurements are preferred in the angle ranges from 0 degreesto 45 degrees, from 135 degrees to 225 degrees, and 315 degrees to 360degrees to the laser sheet axis 204.

The array 206 may be any device(s) capable of sensing the scatteredlight 209 from the spray 207. The array 206 may sense or measureextinction and scattering intensities along a line of travel of thespray 207 at a predetermined number of view angles, such as 6 viewangles, and a predetermined number of projections, such as 512projections, at each view angle. A projection is an occurrence when oneof the light beams falls on one pixel. If, for example, a 512 elementarray is used, it is possible to measure the scattered light 209 at 512locations on the array 206. The measurement of the scattered light 209at each of the 512 pixels is called a projection (a standard term intomography). FIG. 2 shows only two view angles, however, the system mayinclude any number of view angles. In some examples, the arrays 206 maybe configured to take one or more multiple projections. For example, thearray 206 may be configured to take 256, 512, 1024, or more projections.In examples where x-ray wavelengths of light are used, the array 206 maybe a suitable array to measure x-rays. A local extinction coefficient isobtained using deconvolution. The Maximum Likelihood Estimation methodmay be used for the calculation of the local extinction coefficient.Deconvolution may be a process by which a convolution function isseparated into functions from which the convolution function was formedin order to separate the effects convoluted in the convolution function.In some examples, the array 206 may include a photo-diode array.Alternatively or in addition, in some examples, the array 206 mayinclude a linear array. Alternatively or in addition, the array 206 mayinclude a 2-D camera. The 2-D camera may be any camera capable ofcapturing 2-dimensional images. In other examples, the array may be anycombination of a photo-diode array, a linear array and/or a 2-D camera.

A scattered intensity of the scattered light 209 is typically apredetermined amount, such as 1000 times, less than the extinctionintensity. Therefore, a chopper 208 is present. The chopper 208 may beany device capable of selectively positioning filters between the spray207 and the array 206. The chopper 208 may include filters such as alaser light filter 211. Alternatively or in addition, the chopper 208may include a neutral density filter 213. The laser light filter 211 mayallow the scattered light 209 to pass through the laser light filter 211with approximately unchanged intensity. Alternatively or in addition,the chopper 208 may include the neutral density filter 213. Thescattered light 209 may have decreased intensity as a result of passingthrough the neutral density filter 213. In some examples, the chopper208 may include the laser light filter 211 and the neutral densityfilter 213. The chopper 208 may be capable of selectively oscillatingbetween filters 211, 213 in order to interrupt the scattered light 209path from the droplets to the array 206. For example, when a scatteredintensity is desired to be measured by the array 206, the chopper 208may place the laser light filter 211 in the light path between thescattered light 209 and the array 206 such that the scattered light 209passes through the laser light filter 211 and proceeds to the array 206.Alternatively, when an extinction measurement is desired to be taken bythe array 206, the chopper 208 may place the neutral density filter 213between the laser light and the array 206 such that the scattered light209 passes through the neutral density filter 213 and proceeds to thearray 206. This configuration affords at least two benefits: (1)extinction and scattered intensity measurements may be taken by the samearray, and (2) the neutral density filter prevents the array frombecoming saturated when measuring extinction.

In some examples, the chopper 208 decreases the intensity of the laserlight to allow for a single array 206 to measure both an extinction anda scattered intensity.

The scattering tomography algorithm is designed to retrieve the localscattering phase function, Φ(θ), from the line of sight scattering andextinction measurements. The scattering phase function is directlyrelated to the SMD of the drops through Mie Theory.

The calculation domain for scattering and extinction tomography is shownin FIG. 3 . In the optical arrangement shown in FIG. 3 , only the lightscattered once from the laser source 302 is accounted for, as themultiply scattered light is much smaller, (approximately 1000 timesless) than the singly scattered light.

In FIG. 3 , the optical path lengths Δ₁₁, Δ₁₂ . . . Δ₁₅ for a scatteringline 306 are shown, and path lengths Δ₂₁, Δ₂₂, Δ₂₃ for the incidentlaser line 304 are also shown. For each segment, the optical propertiesare assumed to be constant. The extinction coefficients β_(i) onsegment, i, and was obtained from extinction tomography. The incidentlaser intensity I_(i) at any point on the scattering axis can beestimated from the following relationship.I _(i) =·I _(i) ^(o)·exp(−β₉·Δ₂₁−β₁₀·Δ₂₂−β₃·Δ₂₃)  (5)

The incident intensity I_(i) is scattered onto the scattering axis(vertical axis in FIG. 3 ), and the scattered intensity I_(m) iscalculated from the Eq. 5 as:I _(m) =I _(i)·Φ_(i,j)·(1−exp(−β₃·Δ₁₃))  (6)

The scattered intensity I_(m) at the joint 310 will go through segment312 and segment 314 to reach the sensor 316, and it will be attenuatedby the spray droplet on the domain. Thus, the measured scattering signal202 can be estimated as:I _(j) ^(s)=η_(j) ·I _(m)·exp(−β₄·Δ₁₄−β₅·Δ₁₅)  (7)where η_(j) is optical efficiency of the sensor at pixel j. Since themeasured intensity at the pixel, j, is the sum of all incident linesfrom the laser, the final equation for the scattered intensity at thepixel, j, is represented as:I _(s) ^(j)=η_(j)·Σ_(i) I _(o)^(i)·[Π_(k)exp(−β_(k)·Δ_(ki))]·Φ_(i,j)(1−exp(−β_(i)·Δ_(i,j)))[Π_(m)exp(−β_(m)−Δ_(m,j))]  (8)

The equation (8) is for a single line of projection. From the 6-axisSETscan system shown in the example system of FIG. 4 , 6 times 512projections are available. Thus a system of equations can be constructedfrom the 6-axis measurements. The equation (8) is linear to the unknownvariable, ·Φ_(i,j), (scattering phase function at each segment). Thesystem of equations is also non-negative since all transmittances andscatterings are positive. This satisfies all the criteria required toobtain the most optimal solution using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation(MLE) method (Vardi and Lee, 1993) (Vardi, Y., and Lee, D., “From ImageDeblurring to Optimal Investments: Maximum Likelihood Solutions forPositive Linear Inverse Problems,” J. R. Statist. Soc. B, vol. 55, pp.569-612, 1993.) The MLE method guarantees convergence to the mostoptimal solution. It should be noted that other methods of convertingthe intensities to temperature, such as other linear and non-lineariteration methods can be used with the present system.

For exemplary purposes, the construction of an apparatus 402 shown inthe example system of FIG. 4 can be further described. The spray 207 maybe supplied to a channel 410. The channel may define a route for thespray 207 to travel through the laser sheet 202. The spray may besubjected to the laser sheet when passing through the channel 410.Extinction measurements, for example, may be taken by turning on alllasers sources 203 and extinction measurements may be taken by thearrays 206 simultaneously for all six axes. Alternatively or inaddition, for example, scattering measurements may be taken by only onelaser source 203 turning on at a time, and the scattering intensity maybe measured at 30 degrees from the laser axis 204. These measurementsmay then be repeated for the other five axis as well. Alternatively orin addition, when the extinction measurements are obtained, the chopper208 may place the neutral density filter 213 (0.3% transmission) infront of the array 206 to decrease the intensity of the scattered light209 and prevent the arrays 206 from being saturated. Alternatively or inaddition, when scattering measurements are obtained, the chopper 208 mayremove the neutral density filter 213 from the path of the scatteredlight 209 and instead place the laser light filter 211 in front of thearray 206 to increase the intensity of the scattered light 209. Theneutral density filter may serve to attenuate direct laser light andinhibit saturation of the arrays 206. The scattered intensity may be1000 time less than the laser intensity for extinction measurement. Insome examples, the chopper 208 may oscillate between placing the laserlight filter 211 in front of the array 206 and the neutral densityfilter 213 in front of the array 206. The height of CMOS sensor of theOP200 is a predetermined height, such as 0.5 mm, and small height ofsensor helps to eliminate the unwanted contribution from multiplescattering. In a preferred embodiment, the switching the laser on andoff is achieved using an optical or mechanical shutter.

An oiled nozzle was used to collect scattered intensity data. Thescattering intensity profiles at 30 degrees for all the six axes areshown in the example of FIG. 5 . FIG. 5 shows an example of thescattering signals from the spray measured for the 6 axes.

It should be noted that the methodology described above results in aobtaining drop sizes across the entire plane. This is a marked departurefrom methods such as Phase Doppler Interferometer (PDI) which providedrop sizes at only one point in the plane or diffraction systems thatprovide only the drop size information averaged along one path in thespray.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the input and recovered mean drop sizes in asynthetic spray. To verify the system operation, synthetic data wasgenerated using the forward equation of radiative transfer and thendeconvoluted. The drop sizes within the domain was assumed to have a SMDof 30 microns. The drops were assumed to be bigger in the center andsmaller at the edges. The planar phase function distribution used forthe synthetic data generation and the deconvoluted phase functiondistribution is shown in the example of FIG. 6 .

FIG. 7 shows an example of a plot of planar SMD (drop size) distributionobtained from a liquid spray. Sample data obtained from the sprayobtained using an oil nozzle is shown in FIG. 7 . As shown in FIG. 7 ,the drop sizes may be obtained over a full plane. Alternatively, or inaddition, drop sizes of droplets of a region of the plane may similarlybe obtained, as shown in FIG. 7 .

The apparatus shown in FIG. 4 is recreated in a block diagram shown inFIG. 8 . FIG. 8 shows an example of a system 800 utilizing the apparatus402 and additional external components. The apparatus 402 may alsoinclude a signal converter, such as an analog to digital convertercircuit board 802 capable of converting analog signals from the lineararrays 206 to voltages. In other examples, no signal conversion isnecessary and the signal converter may be omitted. A deconvolutionalgorithm executable by a processor 808 executing instructions stored inmemory 810 or other logic/devices may be used to convert the measuredscattered intensity and extinction into planar drop sizes. A datatransmission mechanism, such as a data cable 804 may be included in thesystem 800. In other examples, the data cable 804 may be replaced withwireless communication. The data cable 804 may be capable oftransmitting data from the analog to digital converter 802 to devices806 external to the apparatus 402. For example, an external device 806capable of receiving data from the data cable 804 may include a display812 to show the data results of the algorithm. The display 812 may bedriven by the processor 808 to display the data, generate reports,generate graphic displays, such as graphs or charts regarding the data.The memory 810 may store instructions executed by the processor 808 anddata generated by the system. In other examples, the processor, thememory 810, the display 812, or any combination may be included in theapparatus 402.

The processor 808 may select and filter data stored in the memory 810 toperform calculations as well as perform calculations. The processor 808may direct the storage of calculations to the memory 810. Alternativelyor in addition, the processor 808 may control the operation of thelasers 203 and arrays 206 by selectively turning the lasers 203 or thearrays 206 on or off. Alternatively or in addition, the processor 808may control the spray 207, a velocity of the spray 207, a pressure ofthe spray 207, and other parameters by which the spray 207 operates.Alternatively or in addition, the processor 808 may direct the chopper208 to place either the laser light filter 211 or the neutral densityfilter 213 in the path of the scattered light from the spray 207 to thearray 206. The selection of filters 211, 213 may be based on whichmeasurement (extinction or scattered intensity) is desired to be taken.Alternatively or in addition, the processor 808 may drive thecommunication of data from the apparatus 402 to the external device 806including the memory 810. The system 800 may be automated by theprocessor 808 such that the functionality of all of the components ofthe system 800 may be performed by the processor 808.

The processor 808 may be any device that performs logic operations. Theprocessor 808 may be in communication with the memory 810. The processor808 may also be in communication with additional components, such as thedisplay 812. The processor 808 may include a general processor, acentral processing unit, an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a digital circuit, an analog circuit, a microcontroller, acontroller, and/or any other type of processor. In some examples, theprocessor 808 may include one or more elements operable to executecomputer executable instructions or computer code embodied in memory.

The memory 810 may be any device for storing and retrieving data or anycombination thereof. The memory 810 may include non-volatile and/orvolatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read-onlymemory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), and/orflash memory. Alternatively or in addition, the memory may include anoptical, magnetic (hard-drive) or any other form of data storage device.The memory 810 may record data received from the apparatus 402 such asmeasured extinction or scattered intensities. The data stored in thememory 810 may be prompted by the processor 808. The processor 808 maycompute a phase function for droplets of the spray 209 utilizingequations (5)-(8) recited above. The processor 808 may use the phasefunction calculation to obtain the droplet size using the Mie Theory.

The system 800 may be implemented with additional, different, or fewercomponents. For example, the system 800 may include only the apparatus402. Similarly, each component may include additional, different, orfewer components. For example, the external device 806 additionallyinclude a monitor, for example.

Some data measured by the arrays 206 may be stored in the memory 810,such as a computer readable storage medium (for example, as logicimplemented as computer executable instructions or as data structures inmemory). All or part of the system and its logic and data structures maybe stored on, distributed across, or read from one or more types ofcomputer readable storage media. Examples of the computer readablestorage medium may include a hard disk, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a flashdrive, a cache, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, RAM, flash memory,or any other type of computer readable storage medium or storage media.The computer readable storage medium may include any type ofnon-transitory computer readable medium, such as a CD-ROM, a volatilememory, a non-volatile memory, ROM, RAM, or any other suitable storagedevice.

The processing capability of the system 800 may be distributed amongmultiple entities, such as among multiple processors and memories,optionally including multiple distributed processing systems.Parameters, databases, and other data structures may be separatelystored and managed, may be incorporated into a single memory ordatabase, may be logically and physically organized in many differentways, and may implemented with different types of data structures suchas linked lists, hash tables, or implicit storage mechanisms. Logic,such as programs or circuitry, may be combined or split among multipleprograms, distributed across several memories and processors, and may beimplemented in a library, such as a shared library (for example, adynamic link library (DLL)).

All of the discussion, regardless of the particular implementationdescribed, is exemplary in nature, rather than limiting. For example,although selected aspects, features, or components of theimplementations are depicted as being stored in memories, all or part ofthe system or systems may be stored on, distributed across, or read fromother computer readable storage media, for example, secondary storagedevices such as hard disks, flash memory drives, floppy disks, andCD-ROMs. Moreover, the various modules and screen display functionalityis but one example of such functionality and any other configurationsencompassing similar functionality are possible.

The respective logic, software or instructions for implementing theprocesses, methods and/or techniques discussed above may be provided oncomputer readable storage media. The functions, acts or tasksillustrated in the figures or described herein may be executed inresponse to one or more sets of logic or instructions stored in or oncomputer readable media. The functions, acts or tasks are independent ofthe particular type of instructions set, storage media, processor orprocessing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware,integrated circuits, firmware, micro code and the like, operating aloneor in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may includemultiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like. In oneembodiment, the instructions are stored on a removable media device forreading by local or remote systems. In other embodiments, the logic orinstructions are stored in a remote location for transfer through acomputer network or over telephone lines. In yet other embodiments, thelogic or instructions are stored within a given computer, centralprocessing unit (“CPU”), graphics processing unit (“GPU”), or system.

A second action may be said to be “in response to” a first actionindependent of whether the second action results directly or indirectlyfrom the first action. The second action may occur at a substantiallylater time than the first action and still be in response to the firstaction. Similarly, the second action may be said to be in response tothe first action even if intervening actions take place between thefirst action and the second action, and even if one or more of theintervening actions directly cause the second action to be performed.For example, a second action may be in response to a first action if thefirst action includes setting a Boolean variable to true and the secondaction is initiated if the Boolean variable is true.

To clarify the use of and to hereby provide notice to the public, thephrases “at least one of <A>, <B>, . . . and <N>” or “at least one of<A>, <B>, . . . <N>, or combinations thereof” or “<A>, <B>, . . . and/or<N>” are defined by the Applicant in the broadest sense, superseding anyother implied definitions hereinbefore or hereinafter unless expresslyasserted by the Applicant to the contrary, to mean one or more elementsselected from the group comprising A, B, . . . and N. In other words,the phrases mean any combination of one or more of the elements A, B, .. . or N including any one element alone or the one element incombination with one or more of the other elements which may alsoinclude, in combination, additional elements not listed.

While the invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments,including particular configurations, measurement techniques andmaterials, it is apparent that other forms could be adopted by oneskilled in the art. Accordingly, it should be understood that theinvention is not limited to the specific disclosed embodiments.Therefore, the scope of the invention is to be limited only by thefollowing claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a housing; aplurality laser light sources mounted on the housing to generaterespective laser sheets from respective laser light generated by each ofthe plurality of laser light sources; a plurality of lenses, eachrespective laser light directed to a respective lens; a channel includedin the housing, the channel defining a route for a spray of liquid topass through the laser sheets; a plurality of sensing elements mountedon the housing to sense scattered light emitted from the spray of liquidat a plurality of respective view angles, the scattered light emittedduring passage of the spray of liquid through the laser sheets; achopper comprising a neutral density filter, the chopper configured todecrease an intensity in the scattered light as a result of thescattered light passing through the neutral density filter; and aprocessor configured to measure a scattered intensity of the scatteredlight sensed from the spray of liquid at the plurality of respectiveview angles; and the processor configured to calculate drop sizes in thespray of liquid from the measured scattered intensity.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the respective view angles comprise atleast six view angles.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe respective view angles are separated by 30 degrees.
 4. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the sensing elements comprise a lineararray of sensing elements.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the sensing elements comprise a photo-diode array.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensingelements are configured to detect the decreased intensity in thescattered light by detection of an extinction of the scattered lightfrom the spray at the respective view angles.
 7. The apparatus accordingto claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to measure thescattered intensity of the scattered light and a measured extinctionintensity, and the processor is further configured to obtain a drop sizeprofile of an entire plane containing the spray of liquid.
 8. Theapparatus according to claim 1 wherein the chopper further comprises alaser light filter, and the processor is further configured to controlthe chopper to selectively oscillate such that the scattered lightpasses through the neutral density filter for detection of the decreasedintensity scattered light and the scattered light passes through thelaser light filter for detection of the scattered intensity of thescattered light.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thelaser sheet comprises a wavelength of 632 nm.
 10. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the laser sheet comprises a wavelength in an x-ray spectrum.11. An apparatus comprising: a plurality of lasers with optical elementscomprising lenses to create a laser sheet for contact with a spray ofliquid; a plurality of array detectors configured to measure, at aplurality of respective view angles, a scattered intensity of the lasersheet in contact with the spray of liquid; a plurality of choppers, atleast one chopper disposed in a respective path between each of thelasers and each of the array detectors; a plurality of neutral densityfilters, each chopper including at least one neutral density filter, theneutral density filters configured to attenuate laser light generated bythe lasers to avoid saturating the array detectors; and a processorconfigured to deconvolute a drop size of a plurality of drops includedin the spray of liquid using the measured scattered intensity andgenerate drop size data for display on an external device.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the array detectors comprise a lineararray of detectors.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a density ofthe laser sheet is uniform.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein thelaser sheet comprises a wavelength in a visible light spectrum.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the laser sheet comprises a wavelength inan x-ray spectrum.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the laserscomprise six lasers, the array detectors comprise six array detectors,and the choppers comprise six choppers.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11,wherein the plurality of array detectors are further configured tomeasure an extinction of scattered light caused by contact of the lasersheet with the spray of liquid, and the processor is further configuredto deconvolute the drop size of the plurality of drops included in thespray of liquid using the measured scattered intensity and the measuredextinction to generate the drop size data for display on the externaldevice.